Hipstamatic's Oggl photo sharing community now open to all

Oggl, Hipstamatic's new photo sharing service for the iPhone, has been updated in the App Store removing the requirement for an invite code. New users can now download the app and signup and join the new community that Hipstamatic bills as "A community of creative people capturing & curating their Lives through photography."

Soon after Oggl went live —and we received our invite code—we took the new service for a spin and on the whole were pretty impressed. The app itself is really well done, if slightly confusing to get a handle on straight away. Opening up to a wider audience now hopefully means the community will grow and we'll get a real indication of how well it may do. The app is free to download, but a subscription of $2.99 quarterly and $9.99 yearly is necessary to get the absolute best out of Oggl.

So, first time Oggl users, give us your thoughts on the service! How are you finding it compared to the likes of Instagram, or even Flickr?

This is the point for me. The competition offers a free app, no ads, and no subscription fees. You have to offer more value than the competition to attract customers. This simply doesn't. You don't compete by offering less to the consumer at a higher price.

You must not have read or tried the app. The app is free, the service is free. What they give you for free is EXACTLY the same as IG. They offer about 20 more filters and lens' for a small fee if you want to pay. It's a pretty similar tactic used by other apps. Recurring is fine with me as long as the service stays up and reliable. Right now the app isn't reliable so I won't be paying.

I understood your point. But you're getting the app for free. And they're not putting up ads. And they are paying for server space which you would be continually using and storing your images on. Somewhere down the road money needs to come in. A one time fee helps pay for the app they spent a lot of time (poorly) making, what about that revolving server fee they have? There's the old adage, you're paying for it either way. Either they are charging you, which gives you some control, or they are selling your information, which would you prefer?

I'll use the T-Mobile route as an example. Pay upfront for a product and avoid contractual agreements. I'd pay $5 for an app to avoid reoccurring payments. I DO support developers by paying for apps: My iPhone is loaded with them! But I do not wish to get into imperishable payments.

I totally understand. I just think most people (not you) don't understand the monthly fees incurred by IG, Oggl and other server based apps to maintain a place for us to store stuff. Eventually these models are going to collapse unless they start selling off our information. If 100K people buy the app today for $5 and no one else buys it, a year from now how will thy pay for the servers to maintain the service?

Well: Firstly, you write a business plan. Secondly, finance your business. Thirdly, test your idea. Fourthly, pick a sales strategy. Fifthly, know your competition.
I assume all these things were considered prior to Oggl's launch. Surly you know that Instagram, Flickr or 500px are free of reoccurring payments. To compete with such services you need to offer something special to lure customers. But if what you are offering costs money, you are risking your own sustainability to survive. You have to convince the average customer with, perhaps, little money to spend (you are dealing with a relatively young audience), that paying is worth it. Either way, it is tough to compete in a crowded market where many apps are supported by deep pockets. Good luck in you endeavor!

My Flickr account for free includes:
1 Terabyte of photo and video storage
Upload photos of up to 200MB per photo
Upload 1080p HD videos of up to 1GB each
Video playback of up to 3 minutes each
Upload and download in full original quality
Unlimited monthly bandwidth
For me this is plenty. So my question is: Why pay more?
(Side note: I've been reading the app reviews via iTunes and the reviews are quite bad, overall. So, again, to convince customers to spend money you gotta come up with an outstanding approach.)

First you said you didn't want to use an app that had recurring fees. I said it's an option, that you don't have to use the paid version, you can use the free version.

Then you said you don't like using apps that even have a recurring fee as an option because you don't see why thy do it. I gave some valid reasons why companies do it.

Then you gave two examples of those same types of apps that offer recurring fee structures as apps you like and use but choose not to pay the recurring fee for. My response is...huh? You just said you don't like using apps that having recurring fee options then tell me how great Flickr and Spotify are, which both offer recurring fee structures for premium users.

That's why I can't follow you. use Oggl. Don't pay for the premium service and see if you like it instead of reading other people's thoughts. The app is free, the service is free. You only pay if you choose (like Spotify and Flickr) to use the premium service.

So at this point I can't figure out what your problem with the app and the service are.

I was merely comparing apps and asked what do you have that they don't -- hardly contradicting nor confusing. I cannot see why I should pay for your app vs Flickr.
Let's be done and let the customers do whatever the want. I'm just one person voicing my opinion.

The recurring fee also gives you access to all existing Hipstamatic gear at once and is also a subscription for a monthly update of new lenses, films and other stuff -- so if you like Hipstamatic's stuff it's actually not a bad deal…! You don't just pay for the service, you pay for a whole bunch of neat stuff and the guarantee for more in the future…

There's a lot of talk about the price here and that's great to discuss but REALLY premature with this app...that doesn't work well. The camera is buggy which is surprising since they were a camera app first and foremost. On top of that I can't use a picture unless I take it with the Oggl app, meaning I can't use pics I took with the Hipstamatic app...huh? So with a broken camera, it makes it difficult and frustrating to use this app at all, never mind thinking about paying for it.